TA to host int’l Homeland Security Conference

Security expertise and anti-terror know-how have long replaced Jaffa oranges as
Israel’s best-known export. With that in mind, next week dozens of homeland
security ministers, mayors, law enforcement officers and others will arrive for
the Israel Homeland Security 2012 conference in Tel Aviv.

“Facing a
multitude of terror threats over the past decades, the State of Israel has
initiated and supported the development and implementation of state-of-the-art
homeland security solutions. Today, Israel is home to numerous companies that
are at the forefront of homeland security technology,” the organizers of the
second annual conference said this week.

The November 11-14 conference
will focus on the four hot subjects of homeland security: Urban security, cyber
security, crisis management and protection of critical infrastructures,
organizers also said.

Those expected to attend the conference, to be held
at the Tel Aviv Fairgrounds, include Luiz Fernando Correa, director of security
for the 2016 Brazil Olympic Games Organizing Committee, and the chiefs of police
of Milan, Atlanta and Chicago.

In addition to panels and discussions, the
conference will feature no shortage of opportunities for guests to network and
do business with dozens of Israeli security companies that have staked out spots
at the event, which is being organized by the Israel Export Institute in
cooperation with the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and of Industry, Trade and
Labor.

In a message the Foreign Ministry sent out about the conference in
October, it quoted Israel Export Institute CEO Ofer Sachs, who said, “The global
homeland security market has significant business potential for Israeli
companies and businesses. This is one of the world’s most rapid growing
and changing markets in recent years, with an annual growth rate of
approximately 6.5 percent, and an estimated global investment of approximately
$188 billion in 2011, for manpower, training and technology acquisition. It is
estimated that by the year 2020, the worldwide expense for homeland security
will reach $330b. per year.”